Free Bug Out by G. Allen Mercer Page B

reunion.
    Ian leaned towards her.  “At least some good came from this shitty day!”
    She leaned back.  “Like we lived again, and oh by the way, saved a bunch of Boy Scouts…not a bad day!”
    Ian smiled and so did Mary as they listened to Adam speak with his father and mother on the radio. 
    “Alright, lets coordinate that.  Over” Bob said, ending the conversation with his son.
    Adam handed the radio back to Ian. 
    “Thank you, sir.  He wants to talk to you now.”
    “Bob, this Ian.  Over.”
    “Ian, this is Bob.  Thank you for rescuing the boys. Now, I have something for you.”
    Mary noticed that Bob didn’t say ‘over.’ She shrugged at Ian.
    “Dad?” Grace’s voice came across the radio.
    Ian’s mouth opened at the sound of his daughter’s voice.  “Grace!  Grace! Is that you?  Over”
    “Yes Dad, it’s me.  I’m okay.  Anna is with me.  We’re at Bob’s”
    Ian tried to push down the grapefruit sized lump in his throat.  He fought to keep his composure at the sound of his daughter’s voice.
    “I’m so glad you’re okay.  How did you get there?  Is your Mom with you?  Over,” he fired off two questions at once.  A tear formed at his eyes.
    There was a pause on the transmission.
    “Dad, it’s a long story.  I’ll tell you later.  And, no, she’s still at home. We have been in a bunker over night and this is the first two-way call we’ve made or heard.  She can hear me on the two-way; we talked briefly yesterday.  Over.”
    “But, do you know if she’s okay?  I mean, the last time you talked to her, she was okay, right?  Over.”
    “Yeah, she was.  But, Dad, something has changed.  She told me she was changing the plan.  Dad, she’s coming to find me.  Over.”

CHAPTER 15
     
     
     
    Leah Burrows enjoyed her last cup of tea on her back deck while watching the sunrise.  She was saying goodbye to the things in her life that used to matter.
    She and Ian had built this house, doing a lot of the work themselves.  But, she knew that it was more important to get to Grace, and hopefully Ian, if she went to find them.
    Leah and Amy had heard a conversation on the short-wave radio between Dukes and Birmingham Bob that Ian was alive and that Grace was with Bob.  She had been lucky to talk to her daughter briefly the day before, but Grace had been pulled into a bunker at Bob’s and she had not heard from her since. 
    That is, until she took her last sip of tea.  Leah’s two-way radio had been on scan.  She would pick up pieces of conversations and then the radio would scan to the next channel, looking for an active broadcast.  She had almost dismissed the scanning as background white noise, that is until she heard Grace’s voice and that she said the word, ‘Dad.’
    Leah waited for the conversation between Grace and Ian to finish.  She couldn’t hear Ian’s side of the transmission since he was so much further away, but she could hear all of Grace’s side.
    “Tardis Blue, this is Momma B, over,” she said, keying the microphone.
    “Momma B!  Thank God!  This is Tardis Blue, I just talked to Dad!  Over,” the excitement in Grace’s voice brought tears to Leah’s eyes.
    “I heard your side of the conversation, Tardis Blue, but he is too far for me to receive his transmission.  Over.”
    “Are you still changing the plan?  Are you still coming to get me?  Over,” Grace asked, she needed clarification as to what to do next.
    “Tardis Blue, that is affirmative.  Over.”  Leah had the Rover packed and just needed to know where to go to find her daughter.
    “Momma B, hold.  Bull’s-Eye can hear me and wants to talk with Bob, and then have me relay a message to you.  Over.”  She used the code name for her father.
    Leah smiled that her husband was now involved.  “Affirmative.  Over.”  She had no idea what he could orchestrate for her or how he could help.  She didn’t even know how he got to where he was physically.  She had